Vol. LXVIII, No. 4002. 
NEW YORK, JULY 10, 1909. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
“ WONDERBERRY AND WIZARD BURBANK.” 
Do We Earn That $10,000? 
In his catalogue for 1909, John Lewis Childs of¬ 
fered the Wonderberry (or Sunberry) as an extra¬ 
ordinary novelty. Among other statements was the 
following: 
We have introduced many of the greatest novelties 
tlint have come out in the past twenty years, hut the 
Wonderberry which we are 
offering (solely) all over 
the world this year is 
the greatest one we ever 
had. Its influence in an 
economic sense on the hu¬ 
man race will he far-reach¬ 
ing, for it is entirely 
novel and a distinct and 
valuable article of food 
which anyone may grow in 
abundance anywhere at 
practically no cost. In 
short, get the maximum re¬ 
sults from a minimum out¬ 
put in labor ‘or expense. 
1.uther Burbank's apparent¬ 
ly wild estimates of its 
value have been more than 
confirmed by our large 
crops of it the past Sum¬ 
mer. and by the fruiting 
specimens in our green¬ 
houses this Winter. 
The Wonderberry is 
also called “Luther Bur¬ 
bank's greatest and new¬ 
est production.’’ Mr. 
Burbank gives the fol¬ 
lowing statement of the 
parentage of the “new” 
plant : 
This absolutely new 
species of berry plant is 
of great scientific interest, 
having been produced by 
the combination of two 
very distinct wild species, 
Solatium guineense of West 
Africa and Solanum villo- 
sum of the West Coast of 
America. Neither of these 
wild species bears edible 
berries, but this now spe¬ 
cies bears the most delic¬ 
ious, wholesome and health¬ 
ful berries in the utmost 
profusion, and always 
comes as exactly true 
from seed as any species 
produced by nature. 
The Gardeners’ 
Chronicle, an English 
publication, after ex¬ 
amining the seeds and 
looking up the history of 
the parents, concluded 
that the Wonderberry 
was practically the same 
thing as Solanum nig¬ 
rum, or black nightshade, 
which in England is a 
poisonous plant. Mr. 
Joseph Meseck, of New 
^ 01 k. heard of this statement and wrote direct to 
Luther Burbank about it. In reply, under date of 
April 17, Mr. Burbank wrote the following: 
ft is very kind of you to inquire at headquarters about 
the “Wonderberry.” The name “Sunberry” is the one 
which I rather preferred when r sold my rights in it to 
•h>lin Lewis Childs. As you probably know, newspaper 
reporters are not always as well posted as they should he. 
/ am ready to make an offer of ten thousand dollars 
i $10,000) cash, cold coin, if any living person on earth 
proves that the “Wonderberry ” is the black nightshade or 
any other berry ever before known on this planet unlit T 
produced it. 
I have seen some criticisms, especially in The Knew, 
A PLANT OF 
i 
THE WONDERBERRY GROWN UNDER GLASS. Fig. 38 
New-Yorker, of New York City, where they simply show 
their ignorance of tlie whole matter. 
Now, 1 have made a good offer and it would please me 
very much if you would publish if in Tiie Herat. New- 
Yorker and in flic English publication you mentioned, the 
Gardener’s Chronicle, as it is not in good taste for me 
to meet these statements personally, and. furthermore, 
they will find out how mistaken they are. 
(Signed) luther bcrbaxk. 
Here is a definite offer of $10,000. Seeds of the 
Wonderberry were obtained from John Lewis Childs 
very early in the season and planted under glass. By 
May 11 these plants had matured so that we ob¬ 
tained the picture shown at Fig. 383. Expert botan¬ 
ists declared that this plant has all the characteristics 
of Solanum nigrum. In order to give Mr. Burbank 
every possible opportunity to name the conditions 
of the test we wrote him the following letter: 
Mr. Joseph Meseck. New York City, has sent us a 
copy of your letter of April 17 in which you refer to 
The Rural New-Yorker in connection with your Won¬ 
derberry. In this letter you say that you are ready to 
give S10.000 in cold coin to any person on earth who 
• ■ ■ I , -. w , , . I. im urn i< 
We think wc are able to do that to the satisfaction of 
most people. I now write to respectfully ask what you 
consider definite proof. What would you expect us to 
do in order to demonstrate to your satisfaction that this 
Wonderberry is really a nightshade? I shall be very 
much pleased to have you specify just what you desire 
in the way of proof. 
On May 24 we received the following remarkable 
communication, certainly a new and distinct species. 
A Letter From Burbank 
This in reply to your 
personal note of May 17, 
just received, and I 
know that you would 
like to get that ten thou¬ 
sand dollars. 
Having no personal or 
financial interest in the 
Sunberry, or “Wonder- 
berry,” as it has been re¬ 
christened by its pur¬ 
chaser and introducer, 
would refer you to my 
own statement of the 
origin of the Sunberry. 
As to its absolutely 
unique character you 
perhaps can be further 
informed by those who 
know it a little better 
than you do. Some in¬ 
teresting information 
might -be obtained by ad¬ 
dressing Dr. George H. 
Shull, of the Ca rnegic 
Institution, or Dr. W. A. 
Cannon, of the Desert 
Laboratory, who has 
made a most careful and 
systematic histological 
study of it and its two 
parents. 
Perhaps, also you may 
obtain some further in¬ 
fo rmation, which you 
evidently need, from 
some of those who have 
seen the plants growing 
on a large scale during 
the past three years, and 
who have eaten the fruit 
fresh, and canned or in 
sauces, pies and in all 
other ways in which the 
Vaceinium Pennsylvani- 
cum is used; but the 
verdict of the people is 
the one which stands. 
4 hat verdict is final, and 
the editor of The Rural 
New - Yorker will be 
obliged to accept it. 
Fortunately, the Sunber- 
ry, like corn and cucum¬ 
bers, can be tested in a 
a single season, while the value of fruit trees can 
only be obtained by long and extensive trials. 
Having been urgently invited to defend myself in 
the columns of The Rural New-Yorker, I would here 
state that I am usually paid something like one hun¬ 
dred dollars per column for my words, and three to 
five times as much per hour for addressing an audi¬ 
ence, but The Rural New-Yorker will not have to 
pay a dime for this. 
I give you some facts: 
The Burbank cherry sold in New York and Phila¬ 
delphia for fifteen dollars ($15) per ten-pound box 
